Delhi: Backlog at mortuaries cleared, almost

NEW DELHI: With improved coordination between the hospitals and Covid-19 designated funeral sites over the past two days, the backlog of the bodies that had piled up at the mortuaries has been cleared.
A spokesperson of the home ministry stated that following the directions of home minister Amit Shah, all central, private and state hospitals in Delhi performed the last rites of Covid-19 deceased with consent of or in presence of their families.“The last rites of the remaining 36 deceased will be done by tomorrow (Wednesday) as next of kin are not in Delhi. There will be no delays going forward,” the spokesperson added.
With two-day deadline of clearing the mortuaries being over, most of the pending cases have been processed without any reports of mismanagement at the burial and cremation grounds. Reports from hospitals were sought after every two hours and floor management was ensured, said officials from all the three civic bodies.
The Covid-19 designated funeral facilities have a capacity to handle 367 bodies per day, but the city saw delays in previous weeks due to poor coordination. “However, no delay or waiting time was witnessed in the last two days and senior officials were deployed at key sites like Punjabi Bagh and Nigambodh Ghat to ensure better coordination,” the officials added.
A senior corporation official overseeing the Punjabi Bagh facility said that on both Monday and Tuesday, its capacity remained underutilised.
Civic officials told TOI that they called the major Covid-19 hospitals, including LNJP, Safdarjung, RML, AIIMS and private establishments, to gather that the backlog was not huge and still manageable.
“Lok Nayak had 22 bodies, while Safdarjung had 20. The figures were even lower and mostly in single digits in other hospitals,” the official added.
The Punjabi Bagh facility received just 55 cremation bookings on Monday. “On Tuesday, it cremated 38 bodies against the capacity of 65. No rush was observed,” said the official.
Jai Prakash, standing committee chairperson of north corporation, said the Nigambodh cremation ground too remained underutilised and no mismanagement was observed. “If bodies do not come suddenly at one point, we will not witness any delays,” Prakash asserted.